Hydrogen has been touted as the fuel of the future for much of the past five decades. Its detractors claim that it always will be in the future. The EU, however, believes that future is about to arrive. A hydrogen strategy announced last week is part of a two-pronged attempt to mobilise investment into the fuel by bringing together governments, investors and corporations.

The EU hopes to install at least 40GW of “green” hydrogen capacity — hydrogen made without using fossil fuels — by 2030. The initiative is certainly ambitious but Brussels is right to try. Having set itself the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, the bloc’s governments must consider all the tools at their disposal. Carbon neutrality will require not just a complete transformation of Europe’s economy but also of the sources of energy it uses. Wind and solar will not be enough to solve the climate challenge. There will need to be targeted policies. As governments grapple with the damage wrought by the pandemic, they should use their spending power to help stimulate a recovery that does not lock in a fossil-fuelled economy. Germany unveiled its own investment plan last month, vowing to become a world leader in hydrogen.

Its appeal is that it could reach parts of the economy other green fuels do not. Despite the best efforts of governments and industries, significant areas of the economy remain heavily reliant on fossil fuels, including long-haul transport, domestic heating and steelmaking. Hydrogen, which can be transported relatively easily and stored, could be used to help decarbonise some of these areas. The challenges, however, are twofold: the most common way to produce hydrogen is from fossil fuels and it remains prohibitively expensive.